


California Dreaming

by brock



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angry Billy Hargrove, BAMF Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Babysitter Steve Harrington, Big Brother Steve, Billy Hargrove Being an Asshole, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Billy is an ass, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Max is badass, Monster of the Week, Other, Sibling Bonding, Summer, billy tries not to be an ass, everyone's an asshole, longing for california, monster hunting billy, monter hunting, mr mom steve, probably because I'm an asshole, return of Steve's bat, the midwest has terrible weather
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 21:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15082247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brock/pseuds/brock
Summary: If Billy Hargrove knew how to sweet talk himself out of a state then he’d be 2,000 miles away from the shitstain of a town called Hawkins, Indiana.Or - Billy Hargrove learns the hard way that the only way for Indiana not to suck is to be pleasant to the people he’s stuck around.





	California Dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> The working title for this was “some bs in the trunk.” Probably a better title than what it is now tbh
> 
> I switch between Max and Maxine possibly too much. Sorry about that, It was a mood thing and I wasn’t quite sure if I should change it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so please don’t kill me. I added together the first and the second chapters. I went back and reread it, and I feel as if I should’ve waited longer to post the 1st chapter because it needed to bring the actual plot into it. So here i am prolly fucking this up :/

It was a gradual process.

First, it was that Billy had to take Max to the school. That became the school and the arcade, which soon became Billy being Max’s chauffeur. So when Billy was asked to take Max to a weekly dinner at the Byers’ house it was no skin off his back. Take Maxine to her little playdate, go on a date or go to a party, pick her up. Lickety-split.

Next, Billy was late picking up Max one time from one of the Byers’ family dinners. It was ten-twenty, and, yeah, maybe he had said that he would be back by ten, but the party was really good, and it was just that hard to tear himself away from a good time. When he got to the house, already a little paranoid on his way there, he was shooed away by an apologetic Joyce Byers who informed him that the chief took her home. As in the chief of police.

Sure, Billy already knew he was fucked before he even stepped into the house. Even though his mind was hazy, and he wasn’t all the way there, a beat down was a beat down, and Billy always seemed to hurt more than most boys did at the end of a fight. And he certainly did hurt after the end of that night.

Then, of course Neil had tried to take away his keys, literally tried to pluck the keys out of Billy’s jacket pocket. Susan stood behind Neil, reminding him that Billy had work tomorrow, and Max had a sleepover the next night, to boot. Susan seemed to have a magic touch that not even his own mother had possessed. Billy resented her for it.

That led to the final piece of bullshit in the bullshit puzzle, Billy was not allowed to go to parties or on anymore dates. At first, Billy thought that this was fine. The girls in Hawkins couldn’t give a better handjob than Billy could with his own hands, and he probably could score better weed if he bought it behind the restaurant that he worked at. That was before Billy was stuck outside every arcade, every house, and every dinner that Max was invited to.

This was a condition that was added after the initial argument. “If you can’t handle coming back in time to pick up your sister, than you can wait around for her until she’s ready,” Neil had said the next morning at the dinner table, mouth full of oatmeal. Even hungover and half dead to the world, Billy wanted to spit at his father’s feet.

That was the process that Billy had to go through to be so Earth-shatteringly mad at Maxine that he resorted to the most Elementary of revenge practices: the silent treatment.

Granted, this didn’t last a day, but Billy still thinks that the message was sent across. Max sat in his car everyday that week, skateboard on the dash and body tensed in anticipation. The tense body for a strike that wasn’t going to land almost brought satisfaction to Billy. Almost. Maybe, if he didn’t feel like such an asshole the whole time.

Her body was still tense when she told Billy, a week after the incident, “You know you don’t actually have to wait, right? It’s not like Neil’s gonna know that you left the general vicinity of the house. You can go on one of your bullshit dates, and my friends won’t be haunted with the knowledge that your lurking outside like a creep. It’s a win-win.”

Billy only grunted in acknowledgement. Later, when Max would come back out to see his car still there, Billy thought he would make up some bullshit excuse about wanting her little friends to know that he was out there, to shake them up a little. Really, Billy was just afraid that his father would know somehow that Billy wasn’t there the entire three hours and get the beat down on him  
for the third time that month.

\--

There was a knocking on his window. It was not a kind knock, and Billy woke up half-afraid of the cost of replacing the window. The other side of the car revealed Maxine, a signature scowl on her freckled face.

Billy cranked the lever to the window. “How can I be of service, freak?”

Maxine sighed, as if Billy was too much to handle. Billy caught himself from rolling his eyes. “Joyce wants you to come inside,” Max said, tense. The tautness of her jaw told Billy that this was not something that Max wanted.

“What does she think?” Billy looked around in the darkness, pulling out a cig from a pack in his jacket. “She think I’ll steal a shrub?”

Max’s jaw firmed impossibly more. “I don’t know, dumbass. Should she be worried about that?” She became all sharp edges in an instant.

Billy sighed, slamming his hand down on the top of the steering wheel. “Well, let’s go in. Wouldn’t want to disappoint Madame Byers, now, would we?”

Max opened the door for him. “Just promise me that you won’t be your total dumbass self in front of my friends.”

Billy grinned around his cigarette, groaning as he got out of the car. “No promises, Maxine.”

They were greeted at the door by Ms. Byers herself, who looked entirely too pleased to see Max and Billy together. The air conditioning wafting outside made Billy’s shirt stick to his skin.

“Come on in, come on in. Glad Max here could get you to come in, Billy,” Ms. Byers said, stepping away to close the door and let the two in. Billy always thought Ms. Byers was crazy hot, but she always had an equally crazed look in her eye that always stopped Billy from flirting with her. She looked especially manic in that moment.

The three of them walked through the hallway to the kitchen. From the disarray the kitchen was in, it appeared that the dinner was over. Ms. Byers started frantically picking up the dishes left on the table.

The house was suspiciously quiet. Billy had seen the chief’s Chevy and one particular yuppie’s BMW littering the lawn. When Billy emerged into the kitchen, the house all of a sudden seemed a flutter of noise and movement, not a head directed his way. Go figure.

Max immediately left Billy without comment for the couch that sat both that kid with the fucked-up teeth and her boy-thing Sinclair. The chief of police, the little Byers kid, Steve Harrington, and a small girl Billy didn’t know were sitting on the ground. They seemed to be playing Risk on a small coffee table. Billy loved Risk; he looked away.

Billy was left to watch Ms. Byers and her devoutness to hand washing each and every dish on the table with so much vigor, Billy didn’t know how the ceramic didn’t just split in two. It took her a moment to notice Billy just loitering uncomfortably in the kitchen. She ran over to the closest chair to Billy and pulled it out. “Here. I’ll give you some leftovers, if you give me a second. I’ll let you get settled.”

Billy sat in the pulled out chair, turning it toward where she was doing the dishes. “No, Ms. Byers, you don’t have to do-”

“Billy, it’s really no problem. You can help do the dishes with me after you’re done.” Ms. Byers rushed around to fix Billy’s plate of lasagna. “Besides, my son went on a last minute date so I have a lot of extras. You’ll be doing me a favor, really.”

Billy somehow doubted that, but still started eating the lasagna when it was set in front of him. It was room temperature and some of the noodles were still a little hard, but Billy hadn’t really eaten all day, so he wasn’t complaining. He got done in three minutes flat, all the while trying to drown out the voices around him. The various voices who probably hated him and definitely hated him. Billy didn’t know why he had agreed to come in.

He took his plate over to Ms. Byers’ stack when he was finished and licked the plate up real good. She grabbed the plate and traded it for a dry washcloth. “Help me dry.”

Ms. Byers dunked a plate into the dirty, soapy water. “So, Billy,” she said, a little too enthusiastically. “Senior year.”

Billy hummed a yes, drying some of the wet plates Ms Byers had already set aside.

“You probably get asked this all the time, but any plans after school?” Ms. Byers asked, the manic look back on her face in full force.

“Um,” Billy said, keeping his hands busy with the plates. He was trying really hard not to make out Max’s voice in the mess of conversation behind him. “I don’t really know yet.”

Ms. Byers laughed at that, taking a sudsy hand and scratching her chin. Her face had bubbles where her fingers had been. “That’s okay. I mean, I didn’t know what to do when I was your age, either. Although, you might not want to be taking life advice from the woman who’s been working at the Rite Aid since she was fifteen.”

Billy didn’t think that her house was too bad for a single mom who had worked at the Rite Aid since she was fifteen. He probably wasn’t going to say as much, though.

“I don’t know.” Billy grabbed the plate that Ms. Byers handed to him and tugged the rag lightly around the plate’s edges. He thought about the future for a second. “I like cars. I’m sort of waiting until after school to pursue anything with it, though. I don’t know the mechanic around town, and I don’t even know if he’d consider taking on an apprentice. Plus, my dad would kill me if he knew I was doing anything to take away from my education.” Which was all true, but he also sure as shit wanted to move as far away from Hawkins, Indiana as humanly possible. He thought that would be rude to tack on.

Ms. Byers frowned at that. “I know Buddy from high school. If connections are one of your only problems, I’m sure he’d take you on if he was given the right motivation. I could talk you up to him.”

Billy wanted to say no. Wanted to turn the opportunity down so fast his head would hurt from whiplash. Wanted to voice all his thoughts about how big of a shithole he thought Hawkins really was, but he heard Max’s voice in his head, telling him not to be a dumbass in front of her friends. Turning this down would be a pretty dumbass move. So that’s why Billy was only a little sarcastic when he responded with, “That sounds just super, Ms. Byers. Thank you.”

\--

When Billy realized that it was time to go, Ms. Byers made him wait so she could write Buddy’s number and put the slip of paper in his hands.

Ms. Byers smiled at him, for once looking a little less manic than usual. “Make sure to call him on Monday after three. I’ll call him and tell him all about you before that.”

Billy made sure to put on some bravado when walking over to where Max sat. Sinclair seemed to tighten his arm around her shoulders without even looking up from their game. Only half looked up at Billy as he made his way over. The chief gave an almost smile, the unrecognizable girl gave a blank look, and Max gave a scowl.

Billy scowled back at her, a weak mock of what was on her face. “Maxine, it’s time to go. We don’t want to be late.”

Billy waited patiently as Maxine made a production out of saying goodbye to each and every one of her friends. They were already past curfew when they finally made it out of the door.

The drive home was tense like it always was. The freon was seeming to be wearing out, but neither of them made the move to open any of their windows. The music was put down so low it was hard to make out what band was playing.

Max sighed, as if put upon herself. “Thanks for not being as big of a shitheel in front of my friends as you usually are.”

Billy counted that as a win.

—

When Billy was fifteen and Max was twelve, Billy took Max to the beach. This was a common occurrence. Max wasn’t allowed to be at the beach alone, ad Billy was almost always at the beach, so the arrangement worked out just fine.

There was a big unspoken rule between the Hargrove-Mayfield step-siblings to mind their own business. Billy didn’t care that Max dove off the pier into thirty feet of water if Max didn’t care that Billy was under said pier smoking weed with his friends. It was a win-win arrangement.

That wasn’t to say that Billy didn’t try to keep an eye on his numbnut of a younger step-sister, but if his watchful gaze got lax, it was because Maxine was already twelve. She was hardly a baby, and she definitely didn’t need help doing something that she had been doing supervised her entire life. That was until Billy looked up, and Max was nowhere to be found.

Freaked out and awkward in his fifteen-year-old body, Billy made his best buddy Chase ruin a perfectly good blunt and dive into the ocean to go find Max. Billy followed in right after.

After Chase emerged with drowsy Maxine, her face sunburnt and even more freckled than before. After a quick medical routine, the best that a fifteen and sixteen-year-old could give to someone, Billy made Chase drive them to a pizza place.

With a twenty-inch cheese pizza right in front of the pair (Max’s favorite that Billy never bought just to spite her), Max finally gave Billy a weak smile. “I won’t tell your dad, okay? You don’t have to worry. It was my fault. Should’ve brought my water bottle like you told me.”

Billy’s cheeks burned in shame with having been found out. He took a piece of his bribe to his mouth. “Thanks.”

Max later told her mom all about the event, which was just as good as telling Neil. Maxine didn’t know that at the time, and it didn’t much matter anyway.

When Billy got beat over it, he was really just glad that Max was okay.  
—  
Billy had a tradition: get as high as a fucking kite and watch reruns of _Cheers_ or _M*A*S*H_ , whichever had better episodes on. This tradition was held every Wednesday, alone, except a half-blunt for company. It was in celebration of his father’s weekly afternoon meeting at work.

That’s why it was weird that, after putting out the roaches of the blunt, Maxine came out of her room and plopped down right next to him.

“Ugh, I hate Carla,” Max said, eyes tracking the television. She kicked her legs up on the coffee table in front of them.

Billy knocked her feet down with the tip of his boot. “Then you don’t have to watch it, punk.”

Maxine punched Billy on the shoulder, not too hard. She was going soft on him. Where there would usually be a defensive comment, there was none.

Billy looked at her suspiciously. “Why are you being almost fucking civil with me? Did you get a fucking contact high or some shit?” Billy clenched his jaw, her version of civil, anyways.

Max rolled her eyes. “When I get older you’re gonna have to share some of your weed with me.”

Billy had a knee-jerk reaction. His face probably looked aghast. “No, I absolutely will fucking not have to, Maxine. When you get older you can buy your own fucking weed.” He grimaced at his phrasing, but only slightly.

Max smiled sweetly. Sweetly for her. She really was a little brat. It would be more of a smirk on anyone else. “I have a favor to ask you, Billy.”

Billy fished the blunt out of the ashtray and tried to light it to take one last drag in. Call it a stress smoke because he knew that whatever Maxine was about to say was gonna be no good, and he would also probably have to go along with it. He only inhaled burnt paper, his fingers got burnt.

“Shit.” Billy dropped the blunt back into the ashtray, the bottom of the tray told him to have fun in California; Billy almost rolled his eyes. “What is it, munchkin?”

Max looked at him like he was crazy, and Billy realized the nickname was halfway endearing. They both shrugged it off. “I need you to drive me to Indianapolis tomorrow.”

Billy took a Newport out of his shirt pocket and lit it up. Part two of his weekly tradition: stink up the place with cigs to distract from the pot. “That all?”

Max made a “gimme” hand signal for the cigarette. Billy almost compiled before he remembered how old she was: too fucking young to get hooked on cigarettes. Billy should know; he had been fourteen when he was given his first pack. He was way too high to be talking to Maxine with all the bullshit she seemed to pull.

Max sighed like a little bitch when she realized he wasn’t going to give her the cigarette. “I also maybe need you to tell Neil that we’re going.”

Billy looked to the ceiling, trying not to concentrate on Rhea Perlman’s annoying fucking voice. “ _Fuuuck_. I knew it.”

Max started to get indignant. Her body started to lock. Her face became closed off.

Billy groaned. “Why can’t you fucking ask him? You know he’ll probably say no to me anyways.”

“I don’t want to fucking talk to him,” Max said, scowling.

“Well, grow some balls and please fucking do,” Billy angrily pleaded.

Max’s scowl got even deeper. “Okay, but if he says no then this is your fucking fault.”

—

Neil didn’t end up saying no to their little field trip. It wasn’t that surprising, Maxine always seemed to have a little of that power that Susan had over Neil in her own miniature form.

It turned out that they weren’t really going to Indianapolis. Billy only found this out in the car, on the highway, north to Indianapolis. They weren’t far up on the highway, but it was still far enough to piss the everloving shit out of Billy.

“What the fuck are we doing then?” Billy asked, violently swerving the Camaro to the side of the highway. The sound that the rumble stripe made past the solid white line made Maxine cringe. “Do you _want_ for me to get fucking killed by Neil? This seems like the right way to start, Maxine.”

Max rolled her eyes at him, like she had the right to be upset with him over this. “I just thought that a day trip to Indianapolis would be easier for your dad to swallow then us going to the chief of police’s house deep in the middle of the woods for the day.” She gave him a smug smile, knowing that she was right. Fucking manipulator. “Just take the next exit and head back into town. I promise it’s important.”

Billy closed his eyes in frustration, turning back onto the highway. He stayed in the closest lane to get off at the exit. “It would’ve been nice for you to clue me in earlier.”

Maxine snorted unattractively, drumming her fingers on the skateboard that she refused to leave at home. “But there wouldn’t be any fun in that.”

—

Driving through the woods, a neat but overgrown path the only thing to lead him in the shade of the oaks, was about as fun as Billy expected. Max did her best to overlay the directions that her friends had apparently given her the night before, but Billy could tell that she had no fucking clue where they were either. Just the same to Billy; because of the stunt with Maxine telling him they were going to Indianapolis, Billy had canceled his shift for the day.

“I really wish I was in Indianapolis right now,” Billy said, stopping for a stupid fucking squirrel that would not get out of his way.

“I promise that we can actually go in a couple weeks,” Max said. Her eyes were looking intensely into the woods. “There it is! Over there!” One of her hands grabbed Billy’s shoulder so hard he almost swerved into a tree, the other was outstretched outside of her open window, pointing at a very small house.

Billy shrugged off Max’s hand and turned to where she pointed. Billy looked at the rundown shack in front of them. There sat the usual cars from the Byers’ Friday dinner, with the addition of Nancy Wheeler’s relatively new Chevy Malibu, probably a fucking 1983. The Byers seemed to be missing from the scene too. As they drew closer, Billy could hear very faint voices coming from somewhere around them.  
Billy began to open the door to his car. Max squared him up with an impossibly irritated look. “You can’t come,” she said, aggravated. “You weren’t invited, and _I_ was.”

Billy’s eyebrows smushed together. “I don’t fucking care if I was invited. Sure, I’ll just have you get hurt in the middle of the fucking woods? Get myself doubly killed when Neil finds out we not only didn’t go to Indianapolis, but I also let you go running into the fucking woods by yourself? Fucking funny, Maxine, but no.”

Maxine gave him the look that meant that Billy was right, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “Fine,” she huffed, slamming her car door as she stocked away toward the house.

“Fucking brat,” Billy muttered under his breath, running to catch up with his step-sister.

Her shoulders were flush with exertion as she ran to the back of the shack, where the voices seemed to come from. Billy followed closely behind.

“Max!” a delighted Dustin Henderson called. His face fell a little when he tracked her form. “ _Annnd_ you brought Billy.”

Maxine was panting, but even winded it was obvious that she was annoyed. “You guys said that you needed all the hands that you could get, and he’s got fucking hands.”

Dustin mumbled under his breath, “ _Fucking psycho hands._ ” Billy rolled his eyes in response.

Maxine was not so passive in her reply. “What the fuck did you just say about Billy?! He could kick your ass!” She said this as more of a threat than a warning.

Like Billy would waste his precious ass-kicking powers on a pussy like Henderson. He was way too fucking young to beat up anyways. He learned his lesson threatening Sinclair, after Maxine told on him to her mother.

Billy stood silent behind Max, as the two passive aggressively argued about him. What great friends Max had.

Dustin seemed to give up, sighing. “Well, we all split up already. You can join up with Steve and I. He just ran to his car to get some stuff.” Fucking Steve Harrington. At least it was better than having to go with the fucking chief police. If he had to spend any extended period of time with him, he was planning on going back to the car and letting Max fend for herself in the fucking woods.

Billy was wondering how they hadn’t run into Steve as they walked up to the house, When Steve popped up behind them, carrying a crowbar and a weird fucking bat full of nails.

He handed Dustin the crowbar, which Dustin excepted with a violent hit into his non-dominant hand. That looked like it hurt, and Billy almost didn’t catch the grimace of regret on Henderson’s face. Billy didn’t trust Dustin with a crowbar as far as Dustin could throw said crowbar.

Steve suddenly looked awkward, looking at Max with her crossed arms, and then Billy. “Um, sorry. I don’t have anything for you guys to carry.” Neither Max or Billy responded. Steve seemed to grow more uncomfortable. “Uh, Nancy said she was going south, and, um, Hopper said he was going north, so that means that we can go either east or west. What do you guys think?”

Dustin answered after a second. “West is sort of a dead end because there’s not that much woods going that way. We should go east, and if it’s not sundown by the time we hit the highway, we should change to going west, I guess.” Dustin took a compass out of his jean pocket and started heading what was apparently east into the trees.

Steve nodded in understanding to the back of Dustin’s head. “That sound good to you guys?”

  
Billy had no idea what the fuck they were talking about, so he stayed quiet. They were looking for something, but he kept telling himself didn’t really care what the fuck it was that they were searching for.

Maxine started moving, her arms still crossed. The only sound that she made was the crunching of leaves under her feet.

Billy changed his gait so he could move up next to her. “Maxine, stop giving our excellent hosts the silent treatment.”

Max uncrossed her arms, putting her hands into fists at her side. Her face was the sort of red it only got when she was mad. Billy wasn’t sure why she was so angry in his defense. “That sounds _absolutely_ perfect to me.”

They soon started moving as a unit. It was fucking boring, everyone seemed tense, and Max was unyielding in her anger. The trees were not much to look at, and the birds seemed to be too tired in the Midwest heat to sing. God, it was humid. It never got this fucking humid in California, and Billy couldn’t help but be bitter about this.

About an hour in their search Dustin seemed to give up. It was probably in pity after all of Steve’s failed attempts at conversation with Max; really, that guy never knew when to give up. “Max, I’m sorry I mentioned how psycho your brother is.”

Billy narrowed his eyes at the kid. Maxine mirrored Billy’s movements to a T. Billy was sure it looked more threatening on her, though.

Steve rubbed his face in exasperation. He punched the younger kid on the shoulder. “C’mon, man, you know that’s not a fucking apology.”

Dustin sighed, checking his compass again to check that they were still going in the right direction. All of Billy’s years of Boy Scouts told him that they were, but he wasn’t about to fucking announce that bit of information to the world. “Max, I apologize that I insulted Billy. That was very rude of me.”

Max punched Dustin in the shoulder, right where Steve had a second before.

“OW! What the shit was that for?” Dustin asked rubbing his shoulder with the hand that hold the crowbar. In result, the crowbar got dangerously close to hitting Billy. Billy moved out of the way. Why the fuck was that kid trusted with a fucking crowbar, again?

Max shrugged, mouth in a smirk. “That was me _barely_ accepting your apology.”

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes more, even though Max’s mood seemed to get increasingly better. Steve tried for conversation again, smiling at Max. “So are you excited for high school? Dustin really is. I can’t get him to stop fucking talking about it.”

“I guess,” Max said, swift and proud. Billy didn’t know what she had to be proud of, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Who are you taking next year?” Steve asked, still with that slimy-ass smile of his. “Dustin said he tried to line up his schedule with his friends. Did you do that?”

Billy wasn’t sure why Dustin couldn’t talk about his own fucking experiences when he was right fucking there, but Dustin didn’t seem so bothered. So Billy also kept this to himself.

That seemed to set Max off, and when she started talking, no one could ever seem to get her to stop. The tension was entirely out of the air, and Steve looked too fucking proud of himself.

The conversation didn’t keep going after Max finished her big long rant, though. Dustin seemed to think that it was a great idea to swing his crowbar ahead of the group to clear the branches and vines in their path. Billy fucking knew that if he kept that up that the bar was going to fly out of the kid’s hands and bludgeon one of them to death. Fucking idiot. Billy seemed to be the only one who couldn’t handle silence, no matter how comfortable it was.

“So, Steve, what are you gonna do now that your done with high school?” Billy asked, half to be an asshole, half because he was actually curious.

This was a touchy subject, that was clear with the expression that printed on Steve’s face. Billy had guessed as much. Steve quickly recovered. “I’m probably gonna take a year or two off and work for my dad.” He smiled like this was the best possibility in the world. Billy had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at Steve’s fake-ass tone.

If Billy was stuck in this shit-fuck of a town after he finished high school, he might actually fucking kill himself. Billy’s sentiment seemed to be mirrored on Max’s face, but she regained her composure way before Billy did. “That means that you can give us rides until we all have licenses!”

That didn’t seem like such a good thing to Billy, but Steve just smiled brightly down at her. “Yeah, I probably could.”

Max seemed to be getting excited again, and Billy could feel another rant coming on. “That means that we could all-”

“We found Jonathan,” a girl’s voice said faintly, static almost drowning it out. It seemed to be coming from Henderson’s backpack. They all stopped, Dustin throwing the bag to the ground and routing around for the radio. “Not that far north from the house. Through the cleaned out path.”

Dustin pressed the response button. “El? El?” All he got back was static.

Everyone began to run back the way they came. Billy had no choice but to follow.


End file.
